COVID-19: HURIWA TASKS GOVT NOT TO MAKE TREATMENT LOOK LIKE SECRET CULT,

Says Home feeding in place of school feeding is a monumental scam that

should be halted

“The federal government’s warning to COVID-19 survivors to stop giving
details of the drugs used for their treatment, so they don’t encourage
self-medication is unconstitutional and has further strengthened the
conspiracy theories about the certainty of the rate of spread of
COVID-19 in Nigeria. That statement is like telling the entire World
that what the Presidential Task force on the CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IN
NIGERIA has been doing is to engage in voodooism contrary to
expectations of twenty first century compliant scientific inquiries and
research in line with best global practices.”

HURIWA has for the umpteenth time condemn the decision of the Federal
Government to proceed with the School Feeding PROGRAMME now that schools
are in vacation for two months due to the CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC just as
HURIWA said HOME FEEDING IS A SCAM DEVELOPED BY OFFICIALS TO PERFECT
CORRUPTION IN THE SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME. SCHOOLS AND HOMES ARE POLES
APART, it maintains.

With the above categorical affirmation, the nation’s foremost Civil
Rights Advocacy group-: HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA
(HURIWA) has condemned the Federal Government’s lacklustre and
unscientific methods of handling the whole issues of containment,
treatments and finding pragmatic cures to the dreaded COVID-19 AILMENT
in the Country even as the Rights group said gagging citizens from
disclosing their TREATMENT REGIME WHILST IN THE COVID-19 ISOLATION
CENTRES amounts to curtailing their constitutionally guaranteed
fundamental freedoms of Expression and information as enshrined in
Chapter 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999
as amended section 39(1).

HURIWA said there is heightened public cynicism about the handling of
the CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IN NIGERIA by the PRESIDENTIAL TASK FORCE
dominated by Politicians and persons not vast in the field of Sciences
just as the Rights group said the ill intentioned decision of the
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster management to proceed with
the unscrupulous agenda of feeding school children now that all the
schools have been closed for two months have contributed to stoking the
embers of public cynicism on the commitment of the current government to
battle the scourge of the increasingly disturbing COVID-19 phenomenon.

” A government that tries to gag the citizens to stop talking about how
they become well again after suffering from the unfortunate affliction
of COVID-19 and a government that against all rational opposition
proceeded with the feeding of ghost pupils in the guise of school
feeding programme has only succeeded in making people to have doubts
regarding the combating of the CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IN NIGERIA given
that corruption that has manifested in the implementation of the SOCIAL
INVESTMENT PROGRAMME including the ill fated SCHOOL FEEDING PROFRAMME
have fed into the growing cynicism and doubts on the genuineness of the
best efforts of government to contain and defeat the ravaging
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IN NIGERIA. ”

HURIWA recalled that the Chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19,
Boss Mustapha asked Nigerians to stop disclosing the treatments they got
for their COVID-19 AILMENT just as his statement followed recent
revelations by some high-profile survivors, who spoke about the drugs
administered on them during their treatment.

HURIWA quoted the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the
Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 Mr. Boss Mustapha as
stating as follows:”The PTF congratulates and appreciates the
testimonies of Nigerians who have recovered from COVID-19, which has
given us more insights and further strengthens the need to adhere
strictly to guidelines issued.However, an emerging issue from all these
testimonies is the issue of prescription for treatments. We should
always remember that the symptoms of COVID-19 mimic some illnesses we
already know but treating the symptoms is not the same as treating the
virus. For this reason, we strongly discourage self-medication.”

HURIWA however said the statement by Boss Mustapha runs contrary to
section 39(1) of the Nigerian constitution of 1999 as amended which
guarantees FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION just as the Rights group said it also
offends SECTION 22 WHICH IS ON the functions and powers of the MEDIA as
the national conscience just as the Rights group said the FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION ACT of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would be voided
should the illegal push by Boss Mustapha to gag the citizens and bar
them from giving testimony on their recovery from COVID-19. HURIWA even
thinks BOSS MUSTAPHA’s illegal order gagging violates the FREEDOM OF
Religion because most Religions permit survivors to render public
testament of their survival from life threatening illnesses.